The Bitter Side of Sweet | TheBookSeekers

The Bitter Side of Sweet


School year: Year 10, Year 8, Year 9

No. of pages 320

Published: 2016

Great for age 7-18 years

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Fifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. This number is very important. The higher the number the safer they are because the bosses won't beat them. The higher the number the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home to Baba and Auntie. Maybe. The problem is Amadou doesn't know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won't tell him. The boys only wanted to make some money during the dry season to help their impoverished family. Instead they were tricked into forced labor on a plantation in the Ivory Coast; they spend day after day living on little food and harvesting beans in the hot sun-dangerous, backbreaking work. With no hope of escape, all they can do is try their best to stay alive-until Khadija comes into their lives. She's the first girl who's ever come to camp, and she's a wild thing. She fights bravely every day, attempting escape again and again, reminding Amadou what it means to be free. But finally, the bosses break her, and what happens next to the brother he has always tried to protect almost breaks Amadou. The old impulse to run is suddenly awakened. The three band together as family and try just once more to escape.

 

 

This book is aimed at children at US 7th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 12 years.

There are 320 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2016 by Penguin Putnam Inc .

Tara Sullivan (www. tarasullivanbooks. com) lives in Malden, Massachusetts. This is her first novel.

 

Praise for The Bitter Side of Sweet

 

An ALA Notable Children's Book - 2017

"A gripping and painful portrait of modern-day child slavery in the cacao plantations of the Ivory Coast."--The Wall Street Journal

"A tender, harrowing story of family, friendship, and the pursuit of freedom."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

 

 

"In crisp, accessible prose, Sullivan draws readers into a most compelling story of survival under unspeakable hardship, bravery, and teamwork... Absorbing and important."--Booklist, starred review

 

 

"[A] heart-wrenching survival tale."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

 

 

"An engaging story that will engender empathy in readers."--School Library Journal, starred review

"Curriculum connections abound and even reluctant readers will be drawn to the suspenseful plot and distinctive characters."--SLC, starred review

"First-world readers will learn much about how their pleasures are underwritten by the labor of their third- world peers... The resolution...is an as-good-as-it-gets kind of compromise that leaves much room for the activism advocated for in the author's note that follows."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

 

 

"This beautiful story of love triumphing over cruelty and profit stands out as an excellent book discussion choice or classroom study."--VOYA